Who does not want to succeed? If we knew of a magic potion that could guarantee success, most of us would give our right arm to acquire it. It is ironical that while these ingredients of success are present right inside us, or are well within our control, we keep seeking them elsewhere. It is like what each religion tells its followers – to seek GOD within and the followers still going to temples and holy places to seek salvation. Let us spend time, dear readers, in identifying some of these traits of being successful.

Don’t let others decide your own behaviour.
Many a times, the first fellow when you enter your office or place of work does not wish you cheerfully. As if to take revenge subconsciously, you don’t greet the next fellow you meet, though you are by disposition, a pleasant kind of a person. What you have done is allowed that grumpy guy (whatever might have been his reasons for behaving so) to dictate your behaviour. Successful persons never allow this to happen.

Be a person who ACTS and not just OBSERVES.
Most of us can be categorized into either “doers” or “observers”. When there is an accident on the road, how may of you will stop and attend to the person injured and how many will look for the first opportunity to slip off, hoping that someone else will take care of the situation. The success rate of “doers” is far higher than that in the other category. Learn to get involved in a situation; learn to shake yourself out of that lethargy. Follow the rule: When in doubt, DO!

Be accurate.
The director of NASA once said that even 99.99% accuracy in the matter of sending manned space ships up in the space is not acceptable. With 5.6 million components contained in the space ship, this accuracy would still leave 5600 defective parts and remember the life of the astronauts depends on the faultless functioning of all parts. Develop the habit of doing your “homework”, learn to refer to published data before shooting off your mouth and most important, learn to reserve your judgment instead of hazarding a wild guess.

Increase the sources of mental pleasure.
All successful persons seem to possess well developed multiple sources of mental gratification. This helps them to remain flexible under stressful conditions. If hobnobbing with plants in your garden or playing a game of golf or playing a musical instrument offers you mental relaxation, develop these & other such hobbies. The more active you are, the more productive you will be. I hope you are already aware of how infinitely more powerful mental relaxation is as compared to physical relaxation.

Recognize your limitations and accept them.
How many times have we wildly pursued objectives that we knew were unachievable, given our capabilities? Recognize the fact that choosing the right thing to be achieved is as important as achieving it. A good thumb rule is to choose something that you love to be involved in and not only because someone else did it successfully.

Seek out your critics and listen to them.
Let us understand that friends can rarely “improve” you because they are forever agreeing with you or sympathizing with you. Alternatively, your critics deserve a closer hearing because you may find many ways of improving yourself from their criticism. Some of those adverse remarks may of course be of no use (made out of jealousy or other extraneous reasons) but listening carefully to criticism has always been recognized as the most cost-effective way of improving oneself. Acquire this habit of dispassionately listening to all criticism directed towards you, rejecting all which is obviously motivated and then acting upon those issues which you know will “improve” you.

Learn to dream about your future.
Psychologists are now unanimous that unless a person dreams of what he wants to achieve, he/she is unlikely to achieve them. This is just the opposite of what our grandparents taught us. We were chided about living in a make-believe world and were constantly warned to “remain within our limits” while dreaming. “To be successful, have limitless dreams” is however the new mantra. Many a problem has however cropped up because a person started behaving as if his dreams were already achieved. One needs to guard against this.
If someone has all these personality traits, we will have to salute him/her as a super-person – but this will rarely happen. Most of us lesser mortals can aspire to put inside us, many of these habits which will ensure success in whatever we undertake. WHY NOT BEGIN RIGHT AWAY?

"Mr. Prakash Shesh, the author, has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad after his Masters in Physics from I.I.T. New Delhi. You may send your feedback to him by choosing an option at the top right corner of this page." He can be reached at creative_ngp@sancharnet.in"